How much is too little? I haven’t made minimum wage for a while. I rarely think about it. I was shocked to find out it is $7.25. How do people survive on $7.25 per hour?

I am not talking about teenagers who are working a summer job to afford expensive jeans. Even though said teenagers would have to work about 15 hours before taxes to afford a pair of $90 jeans.

I am talking about a single gal who wants to have a car and apartment. I did the math and it is virtually impossible. I didn’t really think about it until the furniture retail store IKEA announced they are going to raise their minimum wage employee’s salary to $10.76 an hour - a 17 percent increase.

No one is forcing them to do it, they said they are doing it to invest in their co-workers.

“This stems back to Ikea’s decision to create a better everyday life for our people,” said Rob Olson, Ikea’s acting president for the United States and its chief financial officer.

This is the opposite strategy for other companies. Many fast food workers in New York recently went on strike saying their pay was so low they can barely make it.

I am no Warren Buffett and have a lot to learn about making and saving money but there has to some solution to this issue. Maybe we can learn from Jim Sinegal, the chief executive of Costco Wholesale.

Costco is the nation’s fifth-largest retailer and the average pay is $17 an hour for employees. He basically says higher pay is good business - employees and customers are happy.

I don’t think it is necessarily the government’s cause either. The CEOs and business owners should step up. However you read in the news how CEOs are stepping down and getting millions dollars of severance packages.

I bet a lot of minimum wage workers feel trapped, desperate, and at times hungry. I have a little advice that I am also going to take. Don’t give up. John Paul Mitchell from Paul Mitchell hair products started his $900 million business with a $700 loan.

Ever heard of Howard Schultz? What about Starbucks coffee? Well Schultz grew up in the projects and went on to be become Starbucks’ CEO. J.K. Rowling created the Harry Potter franchise while on welfare. Also, Ingvar Kamprad started IKEA after growing up on a small farm in Sweden.

So while there may be no quick solution on how much is too little, there are always opportunities to get more. We just have to dream big and work hard.